Santa Monica Daily Press, March 22, 2012

Page 1

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Volume 11 Issue 112

Santa Monica Daily Press

MATHEWS COLLECTS HONORS SEE PAGE 3

We have you covered

THE MEETING IN THE MIDDLE ISSUE

Council quibbles on living wage

SM Airport employee settles case, leaves job

New project will create class of ‘working poor,’ council member says

instead backing the Feb. 1 recommendation of the Arts Commission to wait six months for the money to come through. The Arts Commission felt that the

sued City Hall claiming he was denied a promotion based on his race and age settled his case for $200,000 and an agreement to leave his position. City Attorney Marsha Moutrie reported Tuesday that the case was “strenuously contested” by both sides, but that Vonnell Adams, an African-American with 17 years as an employee at the Santa Monica Airport, agreed to take the money and leave his post. Adams, 56, was disappointed with the settlement and felt “set up.” “I didn’t get a fair deal,” Adams said, reiterating that he wasn’t sure if he wanted to go to court because of the unsure outcome of bringing a case before a jury. Adams filed suit in 2010 claiming that his supervisors improperly promoted a Latino colleague by circumventing the agency’s normal promotion procedures. He alleged that this was one instance in a pattern of racially-motivated hirings that excluded African Americans over the course of his 17 years on the job. A complaint filed in the Los Angeles Federal Court pointed out numerous instances of what Adams believed to be preference given to Latino employees over African Americans. In one instance described in the complaint, Officer Leo Iniguez helped Sgt. Jeff Wiles conduct a search for a new police assistant. An African-American woman was a member of the candidate pool. According to the complaint, Iniguez insinuated to Adams that she would not be hired for the position because “she’s black.” Adams alleged that this attitude went further, and ultimately led to Iniguez being promoted to lead airport service officer at the SMO substation over Adams himself, despite

SEE SCULPTURE PAGE 9

SEE SETTLES PAGE 9

BY ASHLEY ARCHIBALD Daily Press Staff Writer

CITY HALL The airport security officer who

BY ASHLEY ARCHIBALD Daily Press Staff Writer

CITY HALL The City Council Tuesday compromised on a living wage for future workers at a new hotel slated for 710 Wilshire Blvd., leaving neither business interests nor labor advocates happy. In a 4-3 vote, the council approved a wage rate of $11.29 or $12.54 per hour, depending on whether workers also received benefits. Tipped workers were excluded from the provision. The rate was a midpoint between developer Alexander Gorby’s initial offer of $10.64 and $11.89 per hour depending on benefits and a flat $14.97 per hour that workers rights advocates sought. The agreed-upon rate is still below the $13.54 per hour that outside groups pay their workers when they contract with City Hall. Councilmembers Terry O’Day, Kevin Daniel Archuleta daniela@smdp.com

SEE WAGE PAGE 10

CHANGES: The building at 710 Wilshire Blvd. is slated to be redeveloped into a hotel.

Council gives ‘Chain Reaction’ backers time BY ASHLEY ARCHIBALD Daily Press Staff Writer

CITY HALL Supporters of Paul Conrad’s “Chain Reaction” sculpture have until Nov. 15 to raise money to save the piece before

city officials remove it from its public art collection. The City Council refused to allocate money to test and rehabilitate the 26-foottall sculpture designed by Conrad, a threetime Pulitzer-Prize winning cartoonist,

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Santa Monica Daily Press, March 22, 2012 by Santa Monica Daily Press - Issuu